Do people really care abour our crisis?!?

[mtbiker278]

So I was driving to work this morning and saw up on the traffic notification sign the message, "Slower speeds save gas". I know this to be true as well as anyone else on this site. I started to wonder if the general public would know this as well. My guess is probably not. However, here was this sign telling them so. It's not just a billboard, or advertisement. It's a MDOT controlled message board for traffic alerts. It's not like they're going to lie or anything.

So as I'm driving under the sign doing about 52mph, the speed limit is 55 mind you, a whole slew of people are passing me. The most noticeable one is the guy in his H2 doing about 75-80 in the left lane. This got me thinking about people in general. I would hope that people would feel the need to conserve since we are diving into this oil crisis, but the opposite seems to be true. Now I could understand maybe a couple people who just don't care, or are running late, or some other excuse necessitating them to drive 70mph when the speed limit is 55. Unfortunately it wasn't just a couple people, it was everyone on the road other than me. I thought maybe I just didn't see anyone driving the same speed cause the exits were so far away, but this didn't really make sense to me.

I just don't understand why people don't make the slight effort to conserve just a little. I'm not saying that everyone should go out and buy a hybrid, although that would be awesome. What makes people totally disregard the fact that we should be conserving? I wonder if this whole fuel conservation is going to be like getting people to recycle? Is it going to take a city mandate to force everyone to conserve our resources?

[SVOboy]

Slow down
Save gas

Is what was up on i-95 this morning. I was going about 55 and traffis was doing 60, limit of 65. I had some interesting thoughts about Immanuel Kant and self-regulation. On the trip home it was the norm though, so it might've been a fluke.

[kickflipjr]

It is hard to change habits. If gas stays high over the next few years (looks like it is going to happen) drivers will change there bad habits.

I have noticed some threads on saturn fans about people moding there cars for better mpg. I never noticed threads like this before. So that is a good sign.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by kickflipjr

It is hard to change habits. If gas stays high over the next few years (looks like it is going to happen) drivers will change there bad habits.

It is my opinion that nothing is really going to change in terms of drivers. The only thing that will change is the auto industry, who has begun to take fuel economy a little more seriously.

Much like the smoker who says they will quit when cigarettes are $5/pack, motorists often claim they will drive less/slower when gas is higher. Just like the smokers who are addicted and continue to smoke regardless of the price, motorists continue to drive because of their addiction.

[kickflipjr]

I would like to se higher mpg standards for all cars. There has been talk of this recently but i don't know the details.

[Compaq888]

people are starting to slow down here. People that can't afford gas slow down. People that can afford h2's can afford gas and tickets.

[MetroMPG]

a sure sign of people caring about the issue is evident when i look at the traffic logs for my web site. metroMPG had its busiest week ever last week, with most traffic coming in from google searches about how to save gas / increase mpg. and i'm not just talking about the peak of a steady climb, but a dramatic spike. (actually, weekly traffic had been declining slowly on average since the last spike.)

i'm sure gassavers.org traffic has seen a similar pattern. we all know the site has experienced a recent jump in activity - you can see that just from the number of new members.

i think each time fuel prices spike, the general public becomes somewhat more interestested in energy issues until people desensitize to the new, higher prices. the media frenzy eventually dies down; soon it's business as usual again.

but with each spike, i also suspect a new splinter group calves off from the masses and stays interested enough to change their behaviour more or less permanently.

[Matt Timion]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

a sure sign of people caring about the issue is evident when i look at the traffic logs for my web site. metroMPG had its busiest week ever last week, with most traffic coming in from google searches about how to save gas / increase mpg. and i'm not just talking about the peak of a steady climb, but a dramatic spike. (actually, weekly traffic had been declining slowly on average since the last spike.)

i'm sure gassavers.org traffic has seen a similar pattern. we all know the site has experienced a recent jump in activity - you can see that just from the number of new members.

i think each time fuel prices spike, the general public becomes somewhat more interestested in energy issues until people desensitize to the new, higher prices. the media frenzy eventually dies down; soon it's business as usual again.

but with each spike, i also suspect a new splinter group calves off from the masses and stays interested enough to change their behaviour more or less permanently.

I've noticed the same here. Unfortunately we have hundreds of users and MAYBE 10% are active on this site.

When we make the switch to vbulletin I'm going to send an email inviting everyone back.

[Sludgy]

I'm old enough to remember the gas crisis of the 1970's.

It wasn't high prices that brought us efficient cars in the '80s and early '90s. What scared us all into K cars and Hondas were the "NO GAS" signs at the local Exxon. (The shortages then were actually due to Nixon's price controls. There was plenty of oil back then if you paid OPEC under the table.)

High fuel prices might slowly induce carmakers to improve fuel economy, but not nearly as much as did the fear of not being able to drive. We have forgotten the utter uselessness of a shiny 3,000 pound hunk of iron with an empty tank. (While making loan payments and paying insurance to boot!)

Now in 2006, the thought of gas shortages (not high prices) ought to scare the bejesus out of us. Suburban sprawl has made us utterly dependent on cars for mundane things like food, clothing, and medicine. The local WalMart may be a 10 minute drive, but without gas, it's a 10 mile hike with a full pack. In the rain. And snow.

This time, the oil shortage isn't an artifact of government price controls. A reserve supply of oil (awaiting a shiekh's bribe)doesn't exist today. We need fuel efficient vehicles and we need them now. But carmakers aren't listening. GM still thinks a 22 MPG SUV is great mileage. GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRR

[Compaq888]

luckily I live close to everything. I could walk to college if they stop selling gas. I could walk to the grocery store if they stop selling gas. I could walk to the bank if they stop selling gas. I have everything to walk to except a job, LOL.